Chapter XX: New allies, old enemies part 2

Rapid fire filled the forgotten halls of Jupiter underground as the Monolith warriors sprang their ambush. Boris, Rogue and Dima had just entered a massive domed structure, and right after stepping inside the hostile bullets had started cracking around them. The darkness that had followed them so far was partially broken by the muzzle flashes, and gunfire broke the silence that had so eerily surrounded them.

Quick on their feet, the trio split to battle the enemies from different positions. Boris ran for a building somewhat resembling a control tower, and planted headfirst into a gravitational anomaly. He could feel it pulling himself inside it, fighting the pull at all his strength and weaving heavily to get out. Just as the vortex was about to make a minced meat and metal scrap pile out of him, he managed to leap out of the pull of it. His leap planted him headfirst inside the building, and it took a moment for him to gather his senses. Boris found himself inside a well-lit room, and quickly prepared his weapons. There could be enemies in here, he thought, and started moving up a staircase, AKMN held high.

Outside, Dima had started using his Val to great effect. One shot landed squarely at a Monoliths chest, bursting it and ending the fanatics life. Rogue meanwhile focused on keeping the Monoliths occupied, laying very suppressive fire with his PKM. While not particularly accurate, it kept the bastards from raising their heads from cover. Boris utilized this to his advantage once he had reached the uppermost floor. He could see all the enemies from there, and in rapid succession decimated their ranks with accurate fire from his old but reliable AKMN. The Monoliths, taken by surprise, tried to retreat, and Boris leaped from his snipers nest to chase them. The fall was quite rough, but the exoskeleton smoothed the landing quite a bit.

Boris ran after the last surviving Monolith warrior, and was soon joined by Rogue and Dima, both seemingly no worse for wear despite the encounter. Boris caught the Monolith in a corridor, and with a rapid burst cut him down, the warriors last prayer to the Monolith being cut short by blood entering his throat. Boris grimaced at the sound. Despite all the carnage he had endured so far, he still flinched at the sight of death. These were brainwashed fanatics, true, but they had once been stalkers like him. Boris thought back and realized that while being made a renegade had been one of the worst fates one could endure, at least he had not been turned to one of these poor bastards.

Rogue and Dima had waited silently while Boris was deep in thought, but with Boris coming back from his wandering thoughts, Dima remarked to Rogue how this was indeed as easy as Rogue had said it would be. Rogue shrugged, saying that the Monoliths must have seen them enter before. Boris nodded to him, perhaps they had been observed by Monoliths when they entered the underground. Whether or not that was the case, they'd need to continue before more arrived. Both of his companions agreed, and they headed further in.

The tunnel turned into less of a underground facility and more of a sewer. They were clearly closing into Pripyat. Once again, voices in the dark revealed their enemies long before they actually saw their foes. Shambling and murmuring of madmen could be heard echoing from the walls, indicating that Zombified stalkers were nearby. Boris looked at both Dima and Rogue to check if they had noticed it as well, and his raised eyebrows were met with nods. They turned the corner, weapons raised, and Dima opened fire first, blasting a zombiestalker into bits using his KS-23. Boris finished another one with his AKMN, and Rogue cut down three with a 15-second burst from his machine gun.

They kept pushing forward, fighting new adversaries as snorks and tushkanos arrived to support the Zombified. Their lead met the enemies and destroyed the resistance with ease. Boris could already see the ladder leading into Pripyat Outskirts, and told the others to hold back. A horde of Zombified burst out of the room with the ladder, and Boris reloaded a grenade into his AKMN's GL-25 launcher. The grenade spun through the air, and hit one of the Zombified, burying itself into the things chest, exploding soon after and ending the other poor things with it. The ladder was free, and they begun climbing. Half-way up they could smell the fresh air. Two thirds of the way up they could start to see the darkness erode. Boris pushed the large concrete block out of the way and stepped outside into the outskirts of Pripyat, into the light of the beginning day.